OpenAI ventures into hardware with $6.4B deal for legendary designer Jony Ive’s startup io

OpenAI announced on May 21 that it will acquire Jony Ive’s artificial intelligence hardware startup io in an all-equity transaction valued at approximately $6.4 billion, according to a report by CNBC.

The acquisition, OpenAI’s largest to date, marks a decisive step into hardware for the company best known for its generative AI models. The deal incorporates io directly into OpenAI.

Meanwhile, Ive, a former Apple design chief, will retain independence for his design firm, LoveFrom.

Ive is credited with designing the iPhone, iPad, and other key Apple products. He will assume design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI and io. 

Integration into AI and product teams

In a joint statement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive said the io team will relocate to San Francisco to work closely with OpenAI’s research and product teams.

The io startup, founded a year ago by Ive and former Apple colleagues Scott Cannon, Tang Tan, and Evans Hankey, was previously operated as part of LoveFrom.

OpenAI currently owns a 23% stake in io, contributing $1.4 billion to the deal’s valuation. The remaining $5 billion will be transferred in equity. 

The transaction will bring io’s device-focused team in-house, adding industrial design capacity to OpenAI’s portfolio. In a statement shared on X, Altman described Ive as “the greatest designer in the world.”

The deal comes weeks after OpenAI agreed to acquire Windsurf, an AI coding assistant, for $3 billion.

Hardware investments

Alongside its in-house efforts, OpenAI has invested in Physical Intelligence, a San Francisco-based robotics startup that raised $400 million in 2024 at a valuation of $2.4 billion.

That round included participation from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Physical Intelligence is building general-purpose AI to operate in physical environments, suggesting OpenAI’s broader intent to pair software with tactile systems.

The acquisition of io reinforces that direction. While OpenAI did not disclose specific products, the blog post referenced devices that “inspire, empower, and enable,” and emphasized IO’s mission to translate AI capabilities into consumer-oriented form factors.

OpenAI’s purchase of io highlights its strategy to build out physical interfaces for its models, as the competitive field in generative AI continues to widen with entries from Google, Anthropic, and xAI.

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